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Canvas

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  • Canvas
    • Access Canvas
    • Import Content into Your Canvas Course
    • Upload Your Syllabus
    • Share Your Syllabus
    • Review the Course-Launch Checklist
    • Publish Your Canvas Course
    • Understanding Your Canvas Courses Menu
  • Get Started In Canvas
    • Basic Computer Specifications for Canvas
    • Canvas-Supported Browsers
    • Customize User Display Settings
    • Customize Your Notifications
    • Your Canvas Dashboard
    • Customize "My Courses"
    • Get Started With The Calendar
    • Canvas on a Mobile Device
    • Link Canvas Courses
  • Design Your Course
    • Options To Organize Content
    • Set Up A Homepage
    • Import Content Into Your Canvas Course
      • Remove announcements when copying a Canvas site
    • Course-level Settings
    • Modify Your Course Menu
    • Get Started with the Rich Content Editor
    • Get Started With Modules
    • Get Started With Pages
    • Get Started With Files
    • Student View
    • Share Your Syllabus
    • Library Content
    • Add Media In Canvas
    • Canvas Commons
  • Assignments and Grades
    • Get Started With Assignments
    • Get Started with Quizzes
      • Building a Quiz and Grading a Quiz
      • Quiz Options for Managing Accommodations & Supporting Academic Integrity
    • Get Started with Google Assignments
      • Create a Google Assignment
        • Get Started with the Google Originality Checker
        • Compare Google Grader and Canvas SpeedGrader
        • Compare Google Rubrics and Canvas Rubrics
    • Introducing New Quizzes
      • Migrating Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes
      • Building a New Quiz
      • Accessibility & Accommodations in New Quizzes
      • New Quizzes Support for Academic Integrity
      • Grading New Quizzes
    • Get Started with Respondus LockDown Browser & Monitor
      • Enabling LockDown Browser
      • Enabling Respondus Monitor
      • Student Respondus LockDown Browser & Monitor Guide 
    • Get Started with the Gradebook
      • Posting Grades and Feedback
      • Student-Facing Grade Notifications
      • Troubleshooting in the Canvas Gradebook
    • Take Attendance In Canvas
    • Student View Of Grades
    • Get Started with SpeedGrader
      • Addressing Bias in SpeedGrader
    • Grading Schemes
    • Rubrics
    • Peer Review
    • Canvas Discussions
      • Discussions: Navigating the Interface
      • Discussions: Locating Groups
      • Discussions: Anonymity & Privacy
  • People and Groups
    • Add People To Canvas
    • User Roles + Permissions
    • Get Started With Groups
    • Get Started With Analytics
  • Model Canvas Courses
  • Canvas Guide for Students
    • Changing Your Display Name and Setting Pronouns
    • Syllabus Search Student Guide
    • Using the Immersive Reader
    • Google Assignments Student Guide

Course-level Settings

Updated on January 9, 2025

Boston College makes certain course level settings for each Canvas course and has made the following settings standard for all courses.  Each professor will need to evaluate these settings in light of their pedagogical goals. This page will show you how to access the settings and make any desired changes

To access your course settings, first click on “Settings” towards the bottom of the left hand navigation.

    Scroll to the bottom and you will see the default settings:

    • Show recent announcements on Course home page
    • 7 number of announcements shown on the homepage.
    • Let students attach files to discussions
    • Let students create discussion topics
    • Let students edit or delete their own discussion replies
    • Let students organize their own groups
    • Hide totals in student grades summary
    • Hide grade distribution graphs from students
    • Disable comments on announcements
    • Only Teachers can create, rename, and edit course pages by default

      Some of the settings might be different if you are importing the course from a previous semester, where changes were made.

      Be sure to click “Update Course Details” in the lower right corner of the page to save your course settings. 

        Implications of Settings Related to Grading

        While most of these options are self-explanatory, unchecking the boxes that hide information about grades can have unintended consequences. Below are several examples of why you may want to keep the defaults regarding grading:

        • Grade distribution graphs can be an inadvertent means of letting students know each others’ grades, especially in a small class; here is the information about what students see.
        • Total grades in Canvas are not official grades and instructors may wish to make adjustments when entering the official final grade in Agora.
        • The grade total the student sees excludes unsubmitted assignments, so a student with missing assignments may believe they are doing better than they are.
        • Unposted grades are not factored into the total grade the student sees, but they are averaged into the total grade that appears to faculty in the Canvas Gradebook, so instructors and students may see different final grades.
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